The Information Directorate, Activity Based Analysis Branch of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Rome Research Site, is soliciting white papers through this Multi-INT Enhanced Exploitation and Analysis Tools (E2AT) announcement. E2AT is focused on the improvement of operator-exploited sensor analytical performance for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems like the Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) that operate within a Multiple-Intelligence (Multi-INT) environment. The advances made under E2AT will assist in operating under Anti-Access / Area Denial (A2/AD) conditions where limitations can degrade C4ISR capabilities. Multi-INT solutions are to be accomplished through the development of innovative technologies that will assist warfighting teams in target tracking and identification, dynamic information annotation, and achieving a high-level information fusion all-source situation awareness. E2AT development is comprised of two complimentary technical areas (TAs): (TA1) Full-Motion Video Exploitation (FMVE) which is an exploitation enhancement that has a focus on video and text source integration and (TA2) Multi-INT Data Association (MIDA) that has its emphasis on overcoming anticipated Anti-Access / Area Denial (A2/AD) conditions.

BACKGROUND

Full Motion Video Exploitation (FMVE)

The FMV processes that are currently in use require labor-intensive analysis in the control, annotation, and reporting of meaningful content. Current analysis techniques are limited in that they demand the full attention of at least two intelligence analysts tasked to watching video, calling out observations, and transcribing content. The E2AT challenge will be to move beyond this inefficient transcription model toward an effective automated capability. Accessing and incorporating relevant data from other domains can provide application services such as entity and adversary network detection, activity discovery, contextual geo-location, and target identification in order to provide additional support for FMV and other processes that will support comprehensive mission awareness. The exploitation of Image Intelligence (IMINT) sources involves selectively processing track-level data (e.g., from the exploitation ground stations), image and plot-level data (e.g., a report of a high-value individual sighting at a checkpoint), and handling and linking of IMINT data to non-real-time data (e.g., a Human Intelligence (HUMINT) report.

Multi-INT Data Association

While Non-IMINT sources can significantly enhance FMV capabilities, associations among these sources can also be applied to Anti-Access / Area Denial (A2/AD) situations. The various intelligence sources can be used to extract high-level knowledge (e.g., situation awareness) from low-level processes as inputs for human judgment and assist in the formulation of decisions and actions. The joint multi-INT analysis will provide insight for preparation and assistance during operations about the patterns of life of the neighborhoods and people. Within these localized events, algorithms that discover relationships and anomalies indicative of suspicious behavior can be matched against previously collected IMINT data. While the localized events may each occur over a small spatio-temporal window, the overall threat activity sequence may span a much larger geospatial-temporal window that requires support of multi-INT sources.

Advanced knowledge creation capabilities from multi-INT data associations can be used to provide situational awareness for real-time requirements whether involved in sensor rich environments or when sources like FMV are limited or denied (e.g., A2/AD). Multi-INT tools can aid the analyst in discovering and separating pertinent, relevant and novel data from the noisy or worthless content.

PCPAD-X

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) PCPAD-X (Planning & Direction, Collection, Processing & Exploitation, Analysis & Production, and Dissemination eXperimentation) initiative is developing an operationally-representative multi-INT environment. PCPAD-X is an innovative approach to research, develop, demonstrate, and conduct objective evaluations that will facilitate the successful technology transition of mission driven solutions. This PCPAD-X initiative brings together the expertise of information technology research with advances from the Information (RI), Sensors (RY), and Human Effectiveness (RH) directorates to demonstrate autonomy and data-to-decisions. The AFRL Intelligence Software Integration Lab (ISIL) is the AFRL/RI gateway into the PCPAD-X environment and has been specifically constructed as a testbed for relevant data processing, providing access to intelligence analysis tools and algorithm testing. The E2AT program will be used as a valuable resource in the validation and verification of emerging FMV and Multi-INT capabilities within the PCPAD-X initiative. It is expected that all deliverables and product developments will be validated and verified in the AFRL PCPAD-X environment.

TA 1 - Full-Motion Video Exploitation (FMVE)The primary focus of FMVE is to provide video-to-text association to enable enhanced annotated video products. Using current imagery exploitation tools such as FMV and Wide Area Motion Imagery, the outputs (e.g., target features and track results) need to be presented in a format for textual association to enable hard (e.g., video) and soft (e.g., text) information fusion. As the operator calls out information in the video, the content must be transcribed in order to enable text extraction. Solutions proposed for the hard (video exploitation) and soft (text extraction) fusion require methods in metadata (e.g., time stamps) development for association, features (e.g., words and pixels) analysis for correlation, and contemporary processing techniques (e.g., track reports) for estimation. The secondary focus is to improve the persistent need to process and generate searchable content through the annotation, tagging, marking, and augmenting Image Intelligence (IMINT) data to better describe video products. Finally, the third focus is on automated interactive approaches between the operator, FMV data streams, and multi-media content to support FMV exploitation, access, annotation, indexing, storage, and linking of IMINT products (e.g. Geographical, moving, signals) to non-IMINT data products (e.g., open source, human, and communications) to enable reasoning (e.g., patterns of life). The three elements of FMVE include developments in (1) video-exploitation associated to text-extraction for annotated video outputs, (2) content-based image and textual retrieval, processing, and dissemination, and (3) interactive visual analytics for advanced operator reasoning.

The result of TA1 calls for enhanced solutions to support operator video exploitation. For example, while the human viewer monitors the video feeds to recognize any significant content, their observations must be automatically translated into searchable display content as either textual and/or graphical products. The general FMVE developments would be physics-based (e.g., video) analysis to enable text-based (e.g., transcribed call-outs) hard-soft fusion. The FMVE operational advancements should leverage established technical tools and capabilities, build innovative image-to-analyst annotation functionality, and have a measureable evaluation of performance improvements.

TA 2 - Multi-INT Data Association (MIDA)The primary focus for the E2AT multi-INT data association is layered opportunistic fusion for strategic mission awareness from human-based (i.e., document) and physics-based (i.e., geographical products, GEO INT) sources to enable operational coordination of both IMINT and non-IMINT based sources. The second focus is to expand the relevant intelligence data set processing that can be incorporated into a DCGS display to exploit stand-off (e.g., radar) and extracted document products. Multi-INT data that exists as text (e.g., intelligence reports, chat), movement (e.g. radar moving target indication), signal or audio-based (e.g. communications transmissions) content should be made readily available to the analyst as supportive information that could be presented on a geospatial-based graphical display. Joint data management solutions are needed to effectively associate Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), Image Intelligence (IMINT), Moving Intelligence (MOVINT), Communications Intelligence (COMINT), Human Intelligence (HUMINT), Signals (SIGINT) Intelligence data and Cyber ISR data. Information sources, whether they are textual, video or audio, are not easily or readily transformed within the context of other data feeds (e.g., SIGINT) for Multi-INT data association. The inability to create associations from the multiple sources can cause critical information or knowledge to be overlooked or ignored. The third focus is to leverage new techniques (e.g., text-extraction, statistical relational learning, discovery algorithms, and contextual and syntactical reasoning) over various INTs to provide real-time situational awareness to the warfighter coupled with a forensic reach-back capability for identifying unknown or latent relationships (e.g. activities, patterns of life) over various operational conditions. The three elements of MIDA include developments for denied environments over (1) feature extraction with respect to both IMINT and non- IMINT analysis, (2) information management analysis over multi-INT sources, and (3) interactive textual/graphical analytics.

The result of TA2 requires advanced multi-INT solutions to support analysts who traditionally are focused on text extracted and exploited video products. For example, an analyst must search a plethora of data to identify significant contextual entities; (e.g., hostile forces, critical events, and salient relationships) over multimedia content that are all competing for the analyst's attention amidst an onslaught of irrelevant data. A result of multi-INT availability is that there is just too much information being generated from differing intelligence streams for analysts to holistically view and efficiently and accurately identify the relevant data. There are many unstructured data sources that are not being fully exploited (e.g., narratives) to distill "what matters", identify significant entities and their associations, and characterize anomalies, patterns of life, threats, or alerts. Filtering, correlation, association, and focus provided from other INTs can manage complexity of the various intelligence streams.. The general MIDA developments would be text-based (e.g., documents) extraction to support physics-based (e.g., radar) exploitation to enable soft-hard fusion. The MIDA operational advancements should leverage established technical tools and capabilities, build innovative text-to-analyst understanding, and have a measureable evaluation of performance improvements.

II. AWARD INFORMATION:

Total funding for this BAA is approximately $7.9M. The anticipated funding to be obligated under this BAA is broken out by fiscal year as follows: FY 13 - $1.6M; FY 14 - $1.6M; FY 15 - $1.6M; FY 16 - $1.6M; and FY17 - $1.5M. Individual awards will not normally exceed 24 months with dollar amounts normally ranging between $100K to $500K per year. There is also the potential to make awards up to any dollar value. Awards of efforts as a result of this announcement will be in the form of contracts or cooperative agreements depending upon the nature of the work proposed.

III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION:

1. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS: All potential applicants are eligible. Foreign or foreign-owned offerors are advised that their participation is subject to foreign disclosure review procedures. Foreign or foreign-owned offerors should immediately contact the contracting office focal point, Lynn G. White, Contracting Officer, telephone (315) 330-4996 or e-mail Lynn.White@rl.af.mil for information if they contemplate responding. The e-mail must reference the title and BAA 12-13-RIKA.

2. COST SHARING OR MATCHING: Cost sharing is not a requirement.

3. System for Award Management (SAM). Offerors must be registered in the SAM database prior to submitting an invoice. Processing time for registration in SAM, which normally takes five business days, should be taken into consideration when registering.

Offerors who are not already registered should consider applying for registration at least two weeks prior to invoicing.

1. APPLICATION PACKAGE: THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION. WE ARE SOLICITING WHITE PAPERS ONLY. DO NOT SUBMIT A FORMAL PROPOSAL AT THIS TIME. Those white papers found to be consistent with the intent of this BAA may be invited to submit a technical and cost proposal, see Section VI of this announcement for further details.

2. CONTENT AND FORM OF SUBMISSION: Offerors are required to submit three copies of a three (3) to five (5) page white paper summarizing their proposed approach/solution. The purpose of the white paper is to preclude unwarranted effort on the part of an offeror whose proposed work is not of interest to the Government. The white paper will be formatted as follows: Section A: Title, Period of Performance, Estimated Cost, Name/Address of Company, Technical and Contracting Points of Contact (phone, fax and email)(this section is NOT included in the page count); Section B: Task Objective; and Section C: Technical Summary and Proposed Deliverables. Multiple white papers within the purview of this announcement may be submitted by each offeror. If the offeror wishes to restrict its white papers/proposals, they must be marked with the restrictive language stated in FAR 15.609(a) and (b). All white papers/proposals shall be double spaced with a font no smaller than 12 pitch. In addition, respondents are requested to provide their Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) number, their Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number, a fax number, an e-mail address, and reference BAA-RIK-12-13 with their submission. All responses to this announcement must be addressed to the technical POC, as discussed in paragraph six of this section.

3. SUBMISSION DATES AND TIMES: It is recommended that white papers be received by the following dates to maximize the possibility of award: FY 13 should be submitted by 5 Nov 2012; FY 14 by 1 Mar 2013; FY 15 by 3 Mar 2014; FY 16 by 2 Mar 2015 and; FY 17 by 1 Mar 2016. White papers will be accepted until 2pm Eastern time on 30 Sep 2017, but it is less likely that funding will be available in each respective fiscal year after the dates cited. FORMAL PROPOSALS ARE NOT BEING REQUESTED AT THIS TIME. This BAA will close at 2pm Eastern Time on 30 Sep 2017.

4. FUNDING RESTRICTIONS: The cost of preparing white papers/proposals in response to this announcement is not considered an allowable direct charge to any resulting contract or any other contract, but may be an allowable expense to the normal bid and proposal indirect cost specified in FAR 31.205-18. Incurring pre-award costs for ASSISTANCE INSTRUMENTS ONLY are regulated by the DoD Grant and Agreements Regulations (DODGARS).

5. All Proposers should review the NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL SECURITY PROGRAM OPERATING MANUAL, (NISPOM), dated February 28, 2006 as it provides baseline standards for the protection of classified information and prescribes the requirements concerning Contractor Developed Information under paragraph 4-105. Defense Security Service (DSS) Site for the NISPOM is: http://www.dss.mil/.

6. OTHER SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS: DO NOT send white papers to the Contracting Officer.

1. CRITERIA: The following criteria, which are listed in descending order of importance, will be used to determine whether white papers and proposals submitted are consistent with the intent of this BAA and of interest to the Government:

(1) Scientific and Technical Merit - Development and/or enhancement of the proposed technology with proven, incremental, or novel techniques;

(2) Testing and Evaluation - Methods proposed for integration and testing of solutions.

(3) Openness/Maturity of Solution - The extent to which existing capabilities and standards are leveraged and the relative maturity of the proposed technology (e.g., accuracy, timeliness, confidence, throughput, reliability, and robustness);

(4) Related Experience - The extent to which the offeror demonstrates relevant technology and domain knowledge; and

(5) Reasonableness and realism of proposed costs and fees (if any).

No further evaluation criteria will be used in selecting white papers/proposals. Individual white paper/proposal evaluations will be evaluated against the evaluation criteria without regard to other white papers and proposals submitted under this BAA. White papers and proposals submitted will be evaluated as they are received.

2. REVIEW AND SELECTION PROCESS: Only Government employees will evaluate the white papers/proposals for selection. The Air Force Research Laboratory's Information Directorate has contracted for various business and staff support services, some of which require contractors to obtain administrative access to proprietary information submitted by other contractors. Administrative access is defined as "handling or having physical control over information for the sole purpose of accomplishing the administrative functions specified in the administrative support contract, which do not require the review, reading, and comprehension of the content of the information on the part of non-technical professionals assigned to accomplish the specified administrative tasks." These contractors have signed general non-disclosure agreements and organizational conflict of interest statements. The required administrative access will be granted to non-technical professionals. Examples of the administrative tasks performed include: a. Assembling and organizing information for R&D case files; b. Accessing library files for use by government personnel; and c. Handling and administration of proposals, contracts, contract funding and queries. Any objection to administrative access must be in writing to the Contracting Officer and shall include a detailed statement of the basis for the objection.

VI. AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION:

1. AWARD NOTICES: Those white papers found to be consistent with the intent of this BAA may be invited to submit a technical and cost proposal. Notification by email or letter will be sent by the technical POC. Such invitation does not assure that the submitting organization will be awarded a contract. Those white papers not selected to submit a proposal will be notified in the same manner. Prospective offerors are advised that only Contracting Officers are legally authorized to commit the Government.

All offerors submitting white papers will be contacted by the technical POC, referenced in Section VII of this announcement. Offerors can email the technical POC for status of their white paper/proposal no earlier than 45 days after submission.

2. ADMINISTRATIVE AND NATIONAL POLICY REQUIREMENTS:

Depending on the work to be performed, the offeror may require a SECRET facility clearance and safeguarding capability; therefore, personnel identified for assignment to a classified effort must be cleared for access to SECRET information at the time of award. In addition, the offeror may be required to have, or have access to, a certified and Government-approved facility to support work under this BAA. Data subject to export control constraints may be involved and only firms holding certification under the US/Canada Joint Certification Program (JCP) (www.dlis.dla.mil/jcp) and have a legitimate business purpose may participate in this solicitation. For questions, contact DLIS on-line at http://www.dlis.dla.mil/jcp or at the DLA Logistics Information Service, 74 Washington Avenue North, Battle Creek, Michigan 49037-3084, and telephone number 1-800-352-3572. You must submit a copy of your approved DD Form 2345, Militarily Critical Technical Data Agreement, with your Proposal.3. Once a proposal has been selected for award, offerors will be given complete instructions on the submission process for the reports.

VII. AGENCY CONTACTS:

Questions of a technical nature shall be directed to the cognizant technical point of contact, as specified below:

The email must reference the solicitation (BAA) number and title of the acquisition.

In accordance with AFFARS 5301.91, an Ombudsman has been appointed to hear and facilitate the resolution of concerns from offerors, potential offerors, and others for this acquisition announcement. Before consulting with an ombudsman, interested parties must first address their concerns, issues, disagreements, and/or recommendations to the contracting officer for resolution. AFFARS Clause 5352.201-9101 Ombudsman (Apr 2010) will be incorporated into all contracts awarded under this BAA. The AFRL Ombudsman is as follows:

The Information Directorate, Activity Based Analysis Branch of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Rome Research Site, is soliciting white papers through this Multi-INT Enhanced Exploitation and Analysis Tools (E2AT) announcement. E2AT is focused on the improvement of operator-exploited sensor analytical performance for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems like the Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) that operate within a Multiple-Intelligence (Multi-INT) environment. The advances made under E2AT will assist in operating under Anti-Access / Area Denial (A2/AD) conditions where limitations can degrade C4ISR capabilities. Multi-INT solutions are to be accomplished through the development of innovative technologies that will assist warfighting teams in target tracking and identification, dynamic information annotation, and achieving a high-level information fusion all-source situation awareness. E2AT development is comprised of two complimentary technical areas (TAs): (TA1) Full-Motion Video Exploitation (FMVE) which is an exploitation enhancement that has a focus on video and text source integration and (TA2) Multi-INT Data Association (MIDA) that has its emphasis on overcoming anticipated Anti-Access / Area Denial (A2/AD) conditions.

BACKGROUND

Full Motion Video Exploitation (FMVE)

The FMV processes that are currently in use require labor-intensive analysis in the control, annotation, and reporting of meaningful content. Current analysis techniques are limited in that they demand the full attention of at least two intelligence analysts tasked to watching video, calling out observations, and transcribing content. The E2AT challenge will be to move beyond this inefficient transcription model toward an effective automated capability. Accessing and incorporating relevant data from other domains can provide application services such as entity and adversary network detection, activity discovery, contextual geo-location, and target identification in order to provide additional support for FMV and other processes that will support comprehensive mission awareness. The exploitation of Image Intelligence (IMINT) sources involves selectively processing track-level data (e.g., from the exploitation ground stations), image and plot-level data (e.g., a report of a high-value individual sighting at a checkpoint), and handling and linking of IMINT data to non-real-time data (e.g., a Human Intelligence (HUMINT) report.

Multi-INT Data Association

While Non-IMINT sources can significantly enhance FMV capabilities, associations among these sources can also be applied to Anti-Access / Area Denial (A2/AD) situations. The various intelligence sources can be used to extract high-level knowledge (e.g., situation awareness) from low-level processes as inputs for human judgment and assist in the formulation of decisions and actions. The joint multi-INT analysis will provide insight for preparation and assistance during operations about the patterns of life of the neighborhoods and people. Within these localized events, algorithms that discover relationships and anomalies indicative of suspicious behavior can be matched against previously collected IMINT data. While the localized events may each occur over a small spatio-temporal window, the overall threat activity sequence may span a much larger geospatial-temporal window that requires support of multi-INT sources.

Advanced knowledge creation capabilities from multi-INT data associations can be used to provide situational awareness for real-time requirements whether involved in sensor rich environments or when sources like FMV are limited or denied (e.g., A2/AD). Multi-INT tools can aid the analyst in discovering and separating pertinent, relevant and novel data from the noisy or worthless content.

PCPAD-X

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) PCPAD-X (Planning & Direction, Collection, Processing & Exploitation, Analysis & Production, and Dissemination eXperimentation) initiative is developing an operationally-representative multi-INT environment. PCPAD-X is an innovative approach to research, develop, demonstrate, and conduct objective evaluations that will facilitate the successful technology transition of mission driven solutions. This PCPAD-X initiative brings together the expertise of information technology research with advances from the Information (RI), Sensors (RY), and Human Effectiveness (RH) directorates to demonstrate autonomy and data-to-decisions. The AFRL Automated Processing and Exploitation (APEX) Center is the AFRL/RI gateway into the PCPAD-X environment and has been specifically constructed as a testbed for relevant data processing, providing access to intelligence analysis tools and algorithm testing. The E2AT program will be used as a valuable resource in the validation and verification of emerging FMV and Multi-INT capabilities within the PCPAD-X initiative. It is expected that all deliverables and product developments will be validated and verified in the AFRL PCPAD-X environment.

TA 1 - Full-Motion Video Exploitation (FMVE)The primary focus of FMVE is to provide video-to-text association to enable enhanced annotated video products. Using current imagery exploitation tools such as FMV and Wide Area Motion Imagery, the outputs (e.g., target features and track results) need to be presented in a format for textual association to enable hard (e.g., video) and soft (e.g., text) information fusion. As the operator calls out information in the video, the content must be transcribed in order to enable text extraction. Solutions proposed for the hard (video exploitation) and soft (text extraction) fusion require methods in metadata (e.g., time stamps) development for association, features (e.g., words and pixels) analysis for correlation, and contemporary processing techniques (e.g., track reports) for estimation. The secondary focus is to improve the persistent need to process and generate searchable content through the annotation, tagging, marking, and augmenting Image Intelligence (IMINT) data to better describe video products. Finally, the third focus is on automated interactive approaches between the operator, FMV data streams, and multi-media content to support FMV exploitation, access, annotation, indexing, storage, and linking of IMINT products (e.g. Geographical, moving, signals) to non-IMINT data products (e.g., open source, human, and communications) to enable reasoning (e.g., patterns of life). The three elements of FMVE include developments in (1) video-exploitation associated to text-extraction for annotated video outputs, (2) content-based image and textual retrieval, processing, and dissemination, and (3) interactive visual analytics for advanced operator reasoning.

The result of TA1 calls for enhanced solutions to support operator video exploitation. For example, while the human viewer monitors the video feeds to recognize any significant content, their observations must be automatically translated into searchable display content as either textual and/or graphical products. The general FMVE developments would be physics-based (e.g., video) analysis to enable text-based (e.g., transcribed call-outs) hard-soft fusion. The FMVE operational advancements should leverage established technical tools and capabilities, build innovative image-to-analyst annotation functionality, and have a measureable evaluation of performance improvements.

TA 2 - Multi-INT Data Association (MIDA)The primary focus for the E2AT multi-INT data association is layered opportunistic fusion for strategic mission awareness from human-based (i.e., document) and physics-based (i.e., geographical products, GEO INT) sources to enable operational coordination of both IMINT and non-IMINT based sources. The second focus is to expand the relevant intelligence data set processing that can be incorporated into a DCGS display to exploit stand-off (e.g., radar) and extracted document products. Multi-INT data that exists as text (e.g., intelligence reports, chat), movement (e.g. radar moving target indication), signal or audio-based (e.g. communications transmissions) content should be made readily available to the analyst as supportive information that could be presented on a geospatial-based graphical display. Joint data management solutions are needed to effectively associate Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), Image Intelligence (IMINT), Moving Intelligence (MOVINT), Communications Intelligence (COMINT), Human Intelligence (HUMINT), Signals (SIGINT) Intelligence data and Cyber ISR data. Information sources, whether they are textual, video or audio, are not easily or readily transformed within the context of other data feeds (e.g., SIGINT) for Multi-INT data association. The inability to create associations from the multiple sources can cause critical information or knowledge to be overlooked or ignored. The third focus is to leverage new techniques (e.g., text-extraction, statistical relational learning, discovery algorithms, and contextual and syntactical reasoning) over various INTs to provide real-time situational awareness to the warfighter coupled with a forensic reach-back capability for identifying unknown or latent relationships (e.g. activities, patterns of life) over various operational conditions. The three elements of MIDA include developments for denied environments over (1) feature extraction with respect to both IMINT and non- IMINT analysis, (2) information management analysis over multi-INT sources, and (3) interactive textual/graphical analytics.

The result of TA2 requires advanced multi-INT solutions to support analysts who traditionally are focused on text extracted and exploited video products. For example, an analyst must search a plethora of data to identify significant contextual entities; (e.g., hostile forces, critical events, and salient relationships) over multimedia content that are all competing for the analyst's attention amidst an onslaught of irrelevant data. A result of multi-INT availability is that there is just too much information being generated from differing intelligence streams for analysts to holistically view and efficiently and accurately identify the relevant data. There are many unstructured data sources that are not being fully exploited (e.g., narratives) to distill "what matters", identify significant entities and their associations, and characterize anomalies, patterns of life, threats, or alerts. Filtering, correlation, association, and focus provided from other INTs can manage complexity of the various intelligence streams.. The general MIDA developments would be text-based (e.g., documents) extraction to support physics-based (e.g., radar) exploitation to enable soft-hard fusion. The MIDA operational advancements should leverage established technical tools and capabilities, build innovative text-to-analyst understanding, and have a measureable evaluation of performance improvements.

II. AWARD INFORMATION:

Total funding for this BAA is approximately $7.9M. The anticipated funding to be obligated under this BAA is broken out by fiscal year as follows: FY 13 - $1.6M; FY 14 - $1.6M; FY 15 - $1.6M; FY 16 - $1.6M; and FY17 - $1.5M. Individual awards will not normally exceed 24 months with dollar amounts normally ranging between $100K to $500K per year. There is also the potential to make awards up to any dollar value. Awards of efforts as a result of this announcement will be in the form of contracts or cooperative agreements depending upon the nature of the work proposed. The Government reserves the right to select all, part, or none of the proposals received, subject to the availability of funds. All potential Offerors should be aware that due to unanticipated budget fluctuations, funding in any or all areas may change with little or no notice.

III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION:

1. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS: All potential offerors who meet the requirements of this BAA may apply. Foreign or foreign-owned offerors are advised that their participation is subject to foreign disclosure review procedures. Foreign or foreign-owned offerors should immediately contact the contracting office focal point, Gail E. Marsh, Contracting Officer, telephone (315) 330-7518 or e-mail Gail.Marsh@us.af.mil for information if they contemplate responding. The e-mail must reference the title and BAA RIK-12-13.

2. COST SHARING OR MATCHING: Cost sharing is not a requirement.

3. System for Award Management (SAM). Offerors must be registered in the SAM database to receive a contract award, and remain registered during performance and through final payment of any contract or agreement. Processing time for registration in SAM, which normally takes forty-eight hours, should be taken into consideration when registering. Offerors who are not already registered should consider applying for registration before submitting a proposal.

4. Executive Compensation and First-Tier Sub-contract/Sub-recipient Awards: Any contract award resulting from this announcement may contain the clause at FAR 52.204-10 - Reporting Executive Compensation and First-Tier Subcontract Awards. Any grant or agreement award resulting from this announcement may contain the award term set forth in 2 CFR, Appendix A to Part 25 http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=c55a4687d6faa13b137a26d0eb436edb&rgn=div5&view=text&node=2:1.1.1.41&idno=2#2:1.1.1.4.1.2.1.1

IV. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION:

1. APPLICATION PACKAGE: THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION. WE ARE SOLICITING WHITE PAPERS ONLY. DO NOT SUBMIT A FORMAL PROPOSAL AT THIS TIME. Those white papers found to be consistent with the intent of this BAA may be invited to submit a technical and cost proposal, see Section VI of this announcement for further details.

2. CONTENT AND FORM OF SUBMISSION: Offerors are required to submit three copies of a three (3) to five (5) page white paper summarizing their proposed approach/solution. The purpose of the white paper is to preclude unwarranted effort on the part of an offeror whose proposed work is not of interest to the Government. The white paper will be formatted as follows: Section A: Title, Period of Performance, Estimated Cost, Name/Address of Company, Technical and Contracting Points of Contact (phone, fax and email)(this section is NOT included in the page count); Section B: Task Objective; and Section C: Technical Summary and Proposed Deliverables. Multiple white papers within the purview of this announcement may be submitted by each offeror. If the offeror wishes to restrict its white papers/proposals, they must be marked with the restrictive language stated in FAR 15.609(a) and (b). All white papers/proposals shall be double spaced with a font no smaller than 12 pitch. In addition, respondents are requested to provide their Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) number, their Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number, a fax number, an e-mail address, and reference BAA-RIK-12-13 with their submission. All responses to this announcement must be addressed to the technical POC, as discussed in paragraph six of this section.

3. SUBMISSION DATES AND TIMES: It is recommended that white papers be received by the following dates to maximize the possibility of award: FY 13 should be submitted by 5 Nov 2012; FY 14 by 1 Mar 2013; FY 15 by 3 Mar 2014; FY 16 by 2 Mar 2015 and; FY 17 by 1 Mar 2016. White papers will be accepted until 2pm Eastern time on 30 Sep 2017, but it is less likely that funding will be available in each respective fiscal year after the dates cited. FORMAL PROPOSALS ARE NOT BEING REQUESTED AT THIS TIME. This BAA will close at 2pm Eastern Time on 30 Sep 2017.

4. FUNDING RESTRICTIONS: The cost of preparing white papers/proposals in response to this announcement is not considered an allowable direct charge to any resulting contract or any other contract, but may be an allowable expense to the normal bid and proposal indirect cost specified in FAR 31.205-18. Incurring pre-award costs for ASSISTANCE INSTRUMENTS ONLY are regulated by the DoD Grant and Agreements Regulations (DODGARS).

5. All Proposers should review the NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL SECURITY PROGRAM OPERATING MANUAL, (NISPOM), dated February 28, 2006 as it provides baseline standards for the protection of classified information and prescribes the requirements concerning Contractor Developed Information under paragraph 4-105. Defense Security Service (DSS) Site for the NISPOM is: http://www.dss.mil/ .

6. OTHER SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS: DO NOT send white papers to the Contracting Officer.

In the event of a possible or actual compromise of classified information in the submission of your white paper or proposal, immediately but no later than 24 hours, bring this to the attention of your cognizant security authority and AFRL Rome Research Site Information Protection Office (IPO):

1. CRITERIA: The following criteria, which are listed in descending order of importance, will be used to determine whether white papers and proposals submitted are consistent with the intent of this BAA and of interest to the Government:(1) Scientific and Technical Merit - Development and/or enhancement of the proposed technology with proven, incremental, or novel techniques;(2) Testing and Evaluation - Methods proposed for integration and testing of solutions. (3) Openness/Maturity of Solution - The extent to which existing capabilities and standards are leveraged and the relative maturity of the proposed technology (e.g., accuracy, timeliness, confidence, throughput, reliability, and robustness);(4) Related Experience - The extent to which the offeror demonstrates relevant technology and domain knowledge; and(5) Reasonableness and realism of proposed costs and fees (if any).

No further evaluation criteria will be used in selecting white papers/proposals. Individual white paper/proposal evaluations will be evaluated against the evaluation criteria without regard to other white papers and proposals submitted under this BAA. White papers and proposals submitted will be evaluated as they are received.

2. REVIEW AND SELECTION PROCESS: Only Government employees will evaluate the white papers/proposals for selection. The Air Force Research Laboratory's Information Directorate has contracted for various business and staff support services, some of which require contractors to obtain administrative access to proprietary information submitted by other contractors. Administrative access is defined as "handling or having physical control over information for the sole purpose of accomplishing the administrative functions specified in the administrative support contract, which do not require the review, reading, and comprehension of the content of the information on the part of non-technical professionals assigned to accomplish the specified administrative tasks." These contractors have signed general non-disclosure agreements and organizational conflict of interest statements. The required administrative access will be granted to non-technical professionals. Examples of the administrative tasks performed include: a. Assembling and organizing information for R&D case files; b. Accessing library files for use by government personnel; and c. Handling and administration of proposals, contracts, contract funding and queries. Any objection to administrative access must be in writing to the Contracting Officer and shall include a detailed statement of the basis for the objection.

3. The Government may simultaneously evaluate proposals received under this BAA from multiple offerors. In this case, the Government may make award based on adequate price competition, and offerors must be aware that there is a possibility of non-selection due to a proposal of similar but higher-priced technical approach as compared to another offeror.

VI. AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION:

1. AWARD NOTICES: Those white papers found to be consistent with the intent of this BAA may be invited to submit a technical and cost proposal. Notification by email or letter will be sent by the technical POC. Such invitation does not assure that the submitting organization will be awarded a contract. Those white papers not selected to submit a proposal will be notified in the same manner. Prospective offerors are advised that only Contracting Officers are legally authorized to commit the Government.

All offerors submitting white papers will be contacted by the technical POC, referenced in Section VII of this announcement. Offerors can email the technical POC for status of their white paper/proposal no earlier than 45 days after submission.

2. ADMINISTRATIVE AND NATIONAL POLICY REQUIREMENTS:

Depending on the work to be performed, the offeror may require a SECRET facility clearance and safeguarding capability; therefore, personnel identified for assignment to a classified effort must be cleared for access to SECRET information at the time of award. In addition, the offeror may be required to have, or have access to, a certified and Government-approved facility to support work under this BAA. This acquisition may involve data that is subject to export control laws and regulations. Only contractors who are registered and certified with the Defense Logistics Information Service (DLIS) at http://www.dlis.dla.mil/jcp/ and have a legitimate business purpose may participate in this solicitation. For questions, contact DLIS on-line at http://www.dlis.dla.mil/jcp or at the DLA Logistics Information Service, 74 Washington Avenue North, Battle Creek, Michigan 49037-3084, and telephone number 1-800-352-3572. You must submit a copy of your approved DD Form 2345, Militarily Critical Technical Data Agreement, with your Proposal.

3. Data Rights: The potential for inclusion of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) or data rights other than unlimited on awards is recognized. In accordance with (IAW) the Small Business Administration (SBA) SBIR Policy Directive, Section 8(b), SBIR data rights clauses are non-negotiable and must not be the subject of negotiations pertaining to an award, or diminished or removed during award administration. Issuance of an award will not be made conditional based on forfeit of data rights. If the SBIR awardee wishes to transfer its SBIR data rights to the Air Force or to a third party, it must do so in writing under a separate agreement. A decision by the awardee to relinquish, transfer, or modify in any way its SBIR data rights must be made without pressure or coercion by the agency or any other party. Non-SBIR data rights less than unlimited will be evaluated and negotiated on a case-by-case basis. Government Purpose Rights are anticipated for data developed with DoD-reimbursed Independent Research and Development (IR&D) funding.

4. Once a proposal has been selected for award, offerors will be given complete instructions on the submission process for the reports.

VII. AGENCY CONTACTS:

Questions of a technical nature shall be directed to the cognizant technical point of contact, as specified below:

The email must reference the solicitation (BAA) number and title of the acquisition.

In accordance with AFFARS 5301.91, an Ombudsman has been appointed to hear and facilitate the resolution of concerns from offerors, potential offerors, and others for this acquisition announcement. Before consulting with an ombudsman, interested parties must first address their concerns, issues, disagreements, and/or recommendations to the contracting officer for resolution. AFFARS Clause 5352.201-9101 Ombudsman (Apr 2010) will be incorporated into all contracts awarded under this BAA. The AFRL Ombudsman is as follows:

All responsible organizations may submit a white paper which shall be considered.

Added: Sep 30, 2014 4:29 pm

The purpose of this modification is to republish the BAA announcement incorporating all previous modifications, if any. This action is pursuant to FAR 35.016(c). This republishing also includes the following changes:

The Information Directorate, Activity Based Analysis Branch of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Rome Research Site, is soliciting white papers through this Multi-INT Enhanced Exploitation and Analysis Tools (E2AT) announcement. E2AT is focused on the improvement of operator-exploited sensor analytical performance for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems like the Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) that operate within a Multiple-Intelligence (Multi-INT) environment. The advances made under E2AT will assist in operating under Anti-Access / Area Denial (A2/AD) conditions where limitations can degrade C4ISR capabilities. Multi-INT solutions are to be accomplished through the development of innovative technologies that will assist warfighting teams in target tracking and identification, dynamic information annotation, and achieving a high-level information fusion all-source situation awareness. E2AT development is comprised of two complimentary technical areas (TAs): (TA1) Full-Motion Video Exploitation (FMVE) which is an exploitation enhancement that has a focus on video and text source integration and (TA2) Multi-INT Data Association (MIDA) that has its emphasis on overcoming anticipated Anti-Access / Area Denial (A2/AD) conditions.

BACKGROUND

Full Motion Video Exploitation (FMVE)

The FMV processes that are currently in use require labor-intensive analysis in the control, annotation, and reporting of meaningful content. Current analysis techniques are limited in that they demand the full attention of at least two intelligence analysts tasked to watching video, calling out observations, and transcribing content. The E2AT challenge will be to move beyond this inefficient transcription model toward an effective automated capability. Accessing and incorporating relevant data from other domains can provide application services such as entity and adversary network detection, activity discovery, contextual geo-location, and target identification in order to provide additional support for FMV and other processes that will support comprehensive mission awareness. The exploitation of Image Intelligence (IMINT) sources involves selectively processing track-level data (e.g., from the exploitation ground stations), image and plot-level data (e.g., a report of a high-value individual sighting at a checkpoint), and handling and linking of IMINT data to non-real-time data (e.g., a Human Intelligence (HUMINT) report.

Multi-INT Data Association

While Non-IMINT sources can significantly enhance FMV capabilities, associations among these sources can also be applied to Anti-Access / Area Denial (A2/AD) situations. The various intelligence sources can be used to extract high-level knowledge (e.g., situation awareness) from low-level processes as inputs for human judgment and assist in the formulation of decisions and actions. The joint multi-INT analysis will provide insight for preparation and assistance during operations about the patterns of life of the neighborhoods and people. Within these localized events, algorithms that discover relationships and anomalies indicative of suspicious behavior can be matched against previously collected IMINT data. While the localized events may each occur over a small spatio-temporal window, the overall threat activity sequence may span a much larger geospatial-temporal window that requires support of multi-INT sources.

Advanced knowledge creation capabilities from multi-INT data associations can be used to provide situational awareness for real-time requirements whether involved in sensor rich environments or when sources like FMV are limited or denied (e.g., A2/AD). Multi-INT tools can aid the analyst in discovering and separating pertinent, relevant and novel data from the noisy or worthless content.

PCPAD-X

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) PCPAD-X (Planning & Direction, Collection, Processing & Exploitation, Analysis & Production, and Dissemination eXperimentation) initiative is developing an operationally-representative multi-INT environment. PCPAD-X is an innovative approach to research, develop, demonstrate, and conduct objective evaluations that will facilitate the successful technology transition of mission driven solutions. This PCPAD-X initiative brings together the expertise of information technology research with advances from the Information (RI), Sensors (RY), and Human Effectiveness (RH) directorates to demonstrate autonomy and data-to-decisions. The AFRL Automated Processing and Exploitation (APEX) Center is the AFRL/RI gateway into the PCPAD-X environment and has been specifically constructed as a testbed for relevant data processing, providing access to intelligence analysis tools and algorithm testing. The E2AT program will be used as a valuable resource in the validation and verification of emerging FMV and Multi-INT capabilities within the PCPAD-X initiative. It is expected that all deliverables and product developments will be validated and verified in the AFRL PCPAD-X environment.

TA 1 - Full-Motion Video Exploitation (FMVE)The primary focus of FMVE is to provide video-to-text association to enable enhanced annotated video products. Using current imagery exploitation tools such as FMV and Wide Area Motion Imagery, the outputs (e.g., target features and track results) need to be presented in a format for textual association to enable hard (e.g., video) and soft (e.g., text) information fusion. As the operator calls out information in the video, the content must be transcribed in order to enable text extraction. Solutions proposed for the hard (video exploitation) and soft (text extraction) fusion require methods in metadata (e.g., time stamps) development for association, features (e.g., words and pixels) analysis for correlation, and contemporary processing techniques (e.g., track reports) for estimation. The secondary focus is to improve the persistent need to process and generate searchable content through the annotation, tagging, marking, and augmenting Image Intelligence (IMINT) data to better describe video products. Finally, the third focus is on automated interactive approaches between the operator, FMV data streams, and multi-media content to support FMV exploitation, access, annotation, indexing, storage, and linking of IMINT products (e.g. Geographical, moving, signals) to non-IMINT data products (e.g., open source, human, and communications) to enable reasoning (e.g., patterns of life). The three elements of FMVE include developments in (1) video-exploitation associated to text-extraction for annotated video outputs, (2) content-based image and textual retrieval, processing, and dissemination, and (3) interactive visual analytics for advanced operator reasoning.

The result of TA1 calls for enhanced solutions to support operator video exploitation. For example, while the human viewer monitors the video feeds to recognize any significant content, their observations must be automatically translated into searchable display content as either textual and/or graphical products. The general FMVE developments would be physics-based (e.g., video) analysis to enable text-based (e.g., transcribed call-outs) hard-soft fusion. The FMVE operational advancements should leverage established technical tools and capabilities, build innovative image-to-analyst annotation functionality, and have a measureable evaluation of performance improvements.

TA 2 - Multi-INT Data Association (MIDA)The primary focus for the E2AT multi-INT data association is layered opportunistic fusion for strategic mission awareness from human-based (i.e., document) and physics-based (i.e., geographical products, GEO INT) sources to enable operational coordination of both IMINT and non-IMINT based sources. The second focus is to expand the relevant intelligence data set processing that can be incorporated into a DCGS display to exploit stand-off (e.g., radar) and extracted document products. Multi-INT data that exists as text (e.g., intelligence reports, chat), movement (e.g. radar moving target indication), signal or audio-based (e.g. communications transmissions) content should be made readily available to the analyst as supportive information that could be presented on a geospatial-based graphical display. Joint data management solutions are needed to effectively associate Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), Image Intelligence (IMINT), Moving Intelligence (MOVINT), Communications Intelligence (COMINT), Human Intelligence (HUMINT), Signals (SIGINT) Intelligence data and Cyber ISR data. Information sources, whether they are textual, video or audio, are not easily or readily transformed within the context of other data feeds (e.g., SIGINT) for Multi-INT data association. The inability to create associations from the multiple sources can cause critical information or knowledge to be overlooked or ignored. The third focus is to leverage new techniques (e.g., text-extraction, statistical relational learning, discovery algorithms, and contextual and syntactical reasoning) over various INTs to provide real-time situational awareness to the warfighter coupled with a forensic reach-back capability for identifying unknown or latent relationships (e.g. activities, patterns of life) over various operational conditions. The three elements of MIDA include developments for denied environments over (1) feature extraction with respect to both IMINT and non- IMINT analysis, (2) information management analysis over multi-INT sources, and (3) interactive textual/graphical analytics.

The result of TA2 requires advanced multi-INT solutions to support analysts who traditionally are focused on text extracted and exploited video products. For example, an analyst must search a plethora of data to identify significant contextual entities; (e.g., hostile forces, critical events, and salient relationships) over multimedia content that are all competing for the analyst's attention amidst an onslaught of irrelevant data. A result of multi-INT availability is that there is just too much information being generated from differing intelligence streams for analysts to holistically view and efficiently and accurately identify the relevant data. There are many unstructured data sources that are not being fully exploited (e.g., narratives) to distill "what matters", identify significant entities and their associations, and characterize anomalies, patterns of life, threats, or alerts. Filtering, correlation, association, and focus provided from other INTs can manage complexity of the various intelligence streams.. The general MIDA developments would be text-based (e.g., documents) extraction to support physics-based (e.g., radar) exploitation to enable soft-hard fusion. The MIDA operational advancements should leverage established technical tools and capabilities, build innovative text-to-analyst understanding, and have a measureable evaluation of performance improvements.

II. AWARD INFORMATION:

Total funding for this BAA is approximately $7.9M. The anticipated funding to be obligated under this BAA is broken out by fiscal year as follows: FY 13 - $1.6M; FY 14 - $1.6M; FY 15 - $1.6M; FY 16 - $1.6M; and FY17 - $1.5M. Individual awards will not normally exceed 24 months with dollar amounts normally ranging between $100K to $500K per year. There is also the potential to make awards up to any dollar value. Awards of efforts as a result of this announcement will be in the form of contracts or cooperative agreements depending upon the nature of the work proposed. The Government reserves the right to select all, part, or none of the proposals received, subject to the availability of funds. All potential Offerors should be aware that due to unanticipated budget fluctuations, funding in any or all areas may change with little or no notice.

III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION:

1. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS: All potential offerors who meet the requirements of this BAA may apply. Foreign or foreign-owned offerors are advised that their participation is subject to foreign disclosure review procedures. Foreign or foreign-owned offerors should immediately contact the contracting office focal point, Gail E. Marsh, Contracting Officer, telephone (315) 330-7518 or e-mail Gail.Marsh@us.af.mil for information if they contemplate responding. The e-mail must reference the title and BAA RIK-12-13.

2. COST SHARING OR MATCHING: Cost sharing is not a requirement.

3. System for Award Management (SAM). Offerors must be registered in the SAM database to receive a contract award, and remain registered during performance and through final payment of any contract or agreement. Processing time for registration in SAM, which normally takes forty-eight hours, should be taken into consideration when registering. Offerors who are not already registered should consider applying for registration before submitting a proposal.

5. GOVERNMENT APPROVED ACCOUNTING SYSTEM: An offeror must have an government approved accounting system prior to award of a cost-reimbursement contract per limitations set forth in FAR 16.301-3(a) to ensure the system is adequate for determining costs applicable to the contract. The acceptability of an accounting system is determined based upon an audit performed by the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA). IMPORTANT: If you do not have a DCAA approved accounting system access the following link for instructions: https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=1cffad228f48b58057072a6c9113799d&tab=core&_cview=1

IV. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION:

1. APPLICATION PACKAGE: THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION. WE ARE SOLICITING WHITE PAPERS ONLY. DO NOT SUBMIT A FORMAL PROPOSAL AT THIS TIME. Those white papers found to be consistent with the intent of this BAA may be invited to submit a technical and cost proposal, see Section VI of this announcement for further details.

2. CONTENT AND FORM OF SUBMISSION: Offerors are required to submit three copies of a three (3) to five (5) page white paper summarizing their proposed approach/solution. The purpose of the white paper is to preclude unwarranted effort on the part of an offeror whose proposed work is not of interest to the Government. The white paper will be formatted as follows: Section A: Title, Period of Performance, Estimated Cost, Name/Address of Company, Technical and Contracting Points of Contact (phone, fax and email)(this section is NOT included in the page count); Section B: Task Objective; and Section C: Technical Summary and Proposed Deliverables. Multiple white papers within the purview of this announcement may be submitted by each offeror. If the offeror wishes to restrict its white papers/proposals, they must be marked with the restrictive language stated in FAR 15.609(a) and (b). All white papers/proposals shall be double spaced with a font no smaller than 12 pitch. In addition, respondents are requested to provide their Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) number, their Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number, a fax number, an e-mail address, and reference BAA-RIK-12-13 with their submission. All responses to this announcement must be addressed to the technical POC, as discussed in paragraph six of this section.

3. SUBMISSION DATES AND TIMES: It is recommended that white papers be received by the following dates to maximize the possibility of award: FY 13 should be submitted by 5 Nov 2012; FY 14 by 1 Mar 2013; FY 15 by 3 Mar 2014; FY 16 by 2 Mar 2015 and; FY 17 by 1 Mar 2016. White papers will be accepted until 2pm Eastern time on 30 Sep 2017, but it is less likely that funding will be available in each respective fiscal year after the dates cited. FORMAL PROPOSALS ARE NOT BEING REQUESTED AT THIS TIME. This BAA will close at 2pm Eastern Time on 30 Sep 2017.

4. FUNDING RESTRICTIONS: The cost of preparing white papers/proposals in response to this announcement is not considered an allowable direct charge to any resulting contract or any other contract, but may be an allowable expense to the normal bid and proposal indirect cost specified in FAR 31.205-18. Incurring pre-award costs for ASSISTANCE INSTRUMENTS ONLY are regulated by the DoD Grant and Agreements Regulations (DODGARS).

5. All Proposers should review the NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL SECURITY PROGRAM OPERATING MANUAL, (NISPOM), dated February 28, 2006 as it provides baseline standards for the protection of classified information and prescribes the requirements concerning Contractor Developed Information under paragraph 4-105. Defense Security Service (DSS) Site for the NISPOM is: http://www.dss.mil/.

6. OTHER SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS: DO NOT send white papers to the Contracting Officer.

In the event of a possible or actual compromise of classified information in the submission of your white paper or proposal, immediately but no later than 24 hours, bring this to the attention of your cognizant security authority and AFRL Rome Research Site Information Protection Office (IPO):

1. CRITERIA: The following criteria, which are listed in descending order of importance, will be used to determine whether white papers and proposals submitted are consistent with the intent of this BAA and of interest to the Government:

(1) Scientific and Technical Merit - Development and/or enhancement of the proposed technology with proven, incremental, or novel techniques;(2) Testing and Evaluation - Methods proposed for integration and testing of solutions. (3) Openness/Maturity of Solution - The extent to which existing capabilities and standards are leveraged and the relative maturity of the proposed technology (e.g., accuracy, timeliness, confidence, throughput, reliability, and robustness);(4) Related Experience - The extent to which the offeror demonstrates relevant technology and domain knowledge; and(5) Reasonableness and realism of proposed costs and fees (if any).

No further evaluation criteria will be used in selecting white papers/proposals. Individual white paper/proposal evaluations will be evaluated against the evaluation criteria without regard to other white papers and proposals submitted under this BAA. White papers and proposals submitted will be evaluated as they are received.

2. REVIEW AND SELECTION PROCESS: Only Government employees will evaluate the white papers/proposals for selection. The Air Force Research Laboratory's Information Directorate has contracted for various business and staff support services, some of which require contractors to obtain administrative access to proprietary information submitted by other contractors. Administrative access is defined as "handling or having physical control over information for the sole purpose of accomplishing the administrative functions specified in the administrative support contract, which do not require the review, reading, and comprehension of the content of the information on the part of non-technical professionals assigned to accomplish the specified administrative tasks." These contractors have signed general non-disclosure agreements and organizational conflict of interest statements. The required administrative access will be granted to non-technical professionals. Examples of the administrative tasks performed include: a. Assembling and organizing information for R&D case files; b. Accessing library files for use by government personnel; and c. Handling and administration of proposals, contracts, contract funding and queries. Any objection to administrative access must be in writing to the Contracting Officer and shall include a detailed statement of the basis for the objection.

3. The Government may simultaneously evaluate proposals received under this BAA from multiple offerors. In this case, the Government may make award based on adequate price competition, and offerors must be aware that there is a possibility of non-selection due to a proposal of similar but higher-priced technical approach as compared to another offeror.

VI. AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION:

1. AWARD NOTICES: Those white papers found to be consistent with the intent of this BAA may be invited to submit a technical and cost proposal. Notification by email or letter will be sent by the technical POC. Such invitation does not assure that the submitting organization will be awarded a contract. Those white papers not selected to submit a proposal will be notified in the same manner. Prospective offerors are advised that only Contracting Officers are legally authorized to commit the Government.

All offerors submitting white papers will be contacted by the technical POC, referenced in Section VII of this announcement. Offerors can email the technical POC for status of their white paper/proposal no earlier than 45 days after submission.

2. ADMINISTRATIVE AND NATIONAL POLICY REQUIREMENTS:

Depending on the work to be performed, the offeror may require a SECRET facility clearance and safeguarding capability; therefore, personnel identified for assignment to a classified effort must be cleared for access to SECRET information at the time of award. In addition, the offeror may be required to have, or have access to, a certified and Government-approved facility to support work under this BAA. This acquisition may involve data that is subject to export control laws and regulations. Only contractors who are registered and certified with the Defense Logistics Information Service (DLIS) at http://www.dlis.dla.mil/jcp/ and have a legitimate business purpose may participate in this solicitation. For questions, contact DLIS on-line at http://www.dlis.dla.mil/jcp or at the DLA Logistics Information Service, 74 Washington Avenue North, Battle Creek, Michigan 49037-3084, and telephone number 1-800-352-3572. You must submit a copy of your approved DD Form 2345, Militarily Critical Technical Data Agreement, with your Proposal.

3. Data Rights: The potential for inclusion of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) or data rights other than unlimited on awards is recognized. In accordance with (IAW) the Small Business Administration (SBA) SBIR Policy Directive, Section 8(b), SBIR data rights clauses are non-negotiable and must not be the subject of negotiations pertaining to an award, or diminished or removed during award administration. Issuance of an award will not be made conditional based on forfeit of data rights. If the SBIR awardee wishes to transfer its SBIR data rights to the Air Force or to a third party, it must do so in writing under a separate agreement. A decision by the awardee to relinquish, transfer, or modify in any way its SBIR data rights must be made without pressure or coercion by the agency or any other party. Non-SBIR data rights less than unlimited will be evaluated and negotiated on a case-by-case basis. Government Purpose Rights are anticipated for data developed with DoD-reimbursed Independent Research and Development (IR&D) funding.

4. Once a proposal has been selected for award, offerors will be given complete instructions on the submission process for the reports.

VII. AGENCY CONTACTS:

Questions of a technical nature shall be directed to the cognizant technical point of contact, as specified below:

The email must reference the solicitation (BAA) number and title of the acquisition.

In accordance with AFFARS 5301.91, an Ombudsman has been appointed to hear and facilitate the resolution of concerns from offerors, potential offerors, and others for this acquisition announcement. Before consulting with an ombudsman, interested parties must first address their concerns, issues, disagreements, and/or recommendations to the contracting officer for resolution. AFFARS Clause 5352.201-9101 Ombudsman (Apr 2014) will be incorporated into all contracts awarded under this BAA. The AFRL Ombudsman is as follows: